Report: Samsung delays first Tizen smartphone launch to Q4

Samsung Electronics has pushed back the launch of its first smartphone running the Tizen platform from the third quarter into the fourth quarter, according to multiple reports. At the same time, sales of the company's smartphones running Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform appear to be going as strong as ever.

According to the reports, from CNET and South Korean news site i24news, which cited unnamed sources, the setback is supposedly due to issues with the Tizen app store. 

Samsung co-CEO JK Shin said in March the company would release its first Tizen device during the third quarter, with reports pegging the commercial launch in August or September.

Targeting multiple device categories including smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, netbooks and in-vehicle infotainment systems, Tizen combines open-source technologies with a standards-based HTML5 development environment, enabling the creation of device-independent, cross-platform mobile applications. Samsung and Intel head the technical steering committee developing the OS, but other Tizen Association members include Huawei, NEC, NTT DoCoMo and Sprint (NYSE:S). Although Tizen smartphones are designed to be high-end gadgets the platform will likely start far behind rivals in terms of the number of applications they can support.

Samsung remains the largest Android vendor by far, but many analysts see its bet on Tizen as a hedge against Google if it tries to assert more control over the ecosystem or favor its Motorola Mobility unit, which Google has vowed not to do. Executives from both Samsung and Google have downplayed tensions between the two companies.

In other Samsung news, according to South Korean media reports Samsung has shipped 20 million units of its Galaxy S4 to date, a little more than two months after the device first went on sale (Samsung said it hit 10 million S4 shipments on May 22.) The reports said Samsung hit the milestone 1.7 times faster than it did when it started selling the Galaxy S III in 2012.

Samsung representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment about either development.

For more:
- see this CNET article
- see this Engadget article
- see this Yonhap News article (translated via Google Translate)
- see this The Verge article

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